Automated early damage detection for power MOSFETs using on-board thermal spectroscopy

Functional safety and reliability of electronic components have been becoming increasingly important over the last years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Not least because of autonomous driving, where the high safety standards today are only achievable via redundancy. However, this greatly increases the weight and cost of the vehicle. Early detection of damage that is already forming but has not led to functional failure yet makes it possible to repair or replace components. In the future this could reduce the need for redundancy. This damage detection is also beneficial for other industries and non-safety applications. Here the result is reduced downtime and thus lower costs. In this paper we present a method for early damage detection in the backside soldering of power MOSFETs using on-board thermal spectroscopy.